Employment relationship

On 22 June 2001, the lower house of the German parliament (Bundestag) passed legislation [1] to reform the Works Constitution [2] Act (Bertriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG) by a majority of 336 votes to 208. The reform of the law, which determines the legal framework for co-determination at the level

According to the /Labour Force Survey/ (winter 1999/2000) there are 6.64 million people with long-term disabilities (3.48 million men, 3.16 million women) in the UK - 18% of the working age population. Of these, 5.47 million have work-limiting disabilities (2.92 million men, 2.55 million women)

While Ireland's much-vaunted "Celtic Tiger" economy continues to generate strong economic growth and reductions in unemployment, a number of negative aspects are evident in an increasingly frenetic economic climate. One of these is that there is increased evidence of workplace stress, particularly

On 1 February 2000, management at Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steel-maker, announced that there were to be 6,000 job losses in its UK operations over the next two years in an attempt to stem losses at the troubled group. The cuts are to fall particularly hard in South Wales where around half of the

In January 2001, the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) published the findings of a survey investigating the views and work situation of its members. The results show a significant increase in "atypical" employment contracts. The effects of this development are found to include a

Greek workers are in favour of the 35-hour working week, but not of current government industrial relations policy, while their main priorities include quality of life, job security and working conditions. Only a third are union members but the great majority are in favour of trade unions. These are

According to data published by the French Ministry of Employment and Solidarity in November 2000, there was a marked rise in the number of working days lost due to strikes in 1999, compared with 1998. Almost half of all disputes in 1999 were mainly related to either pay or employment. However, the

The announcement on 12 December 2000 by General Motors, the USA-based parent company of Vauxhall Motors, that it is to shut its Luton plant dealt another blow to an already beleaguered UK car industry. BMW's shock break-up of the troubled Rover Group started the ball rolling in March (UK0004164F [1]